Sustainability
The greenest home is the one that already exists.
The large majority of the homes that will be standing in 2050 have already been built. Meeting the UK's climate commitments therefore depends far less on what we construct than on what we fix — which is the entire premise of this business.
The problem
Much of Britain's housing stock performs poorly against modern efficiency standards.
We have deliberately not put statistics on this page. An unsourced number would undermine the exact readers it exists to convince — and the argument does not need one.
- Older homes lose heat they were never designed to keep
- Solid walls, uninsulated lofts and suspended timber floors are the norm in a large part of the housing stock. None of it was built to a standard that anticipated the cost of energy today.
- A poor rating is expensive twice over
- It costs the household living there in running costs, and it costs the owner in value, lettability and a tightening regulatory position.
- The homes of 2050 are mostly already standing
- New build alone cannot get the housing stock where national commitments require it to be. Whatever happens next has to happen to buildings that already exist.
Our response
Six stages, and what each one measures.
A retrofit is only as credible as the assessment either side of it.
Assess
A full survey of the existing fabric — construction build-up, insulation, glazing, ventilation and heating — plus the current EPC and SAP position.
Model
Modelled annual energy demand and emissions for the property as found, so improvement is measured against a real baseline rather than an assumption.
Specify
A measure-by-measure retrofit plan with a target rating, sequenced fabric first, and costed before we commit to the purchase.
Deliver
Works carried out by vetted contractors, with the fabric detailing inspected and photographed at each stage while it is still visible.
Verify
Post-works reassessment and a new EPC, giving a like-for-like before-and-after on band, SAP score, modelled demand and modelled emissions.
Monitor
Actual in-use energy consumption compared against the model, so any performance gap is investigated rather than assumed away.
How we measure
Claims we can show our working for.
Every project carries a pre-works assessment and a post-works reassessment. We record the EPC band and SAP score before and after, the modelled annual energy demand, and the modelled carbon emissions.
Where we quote an average, it is an average of completed projects — not a best case, and not a manufacturer’s figure.
We have no completed projects yet, so there are no averages on this site to quote. When there are, they will be published with the methodology alongside them.
Alignment
Where the work sits in the wider picture.
UK Net Zero 2050
Emissions from existing homes have to fall substantially for the national target to be met, and the great majority of the 2050 housing stock is already standing.
Minimum efficiency standards
Requirements for rented property have tightened over the past decade. We build to exceed the current standard rather than to meet it.
Specific dates and thresholds are deliberately not quoted here — this policy has moved more than once, and a stale date is worse than none.
UN SDG 7 — Affordable & Clean Energy
Lower demand and lower running costs for the households living in the homes we retrofit.
UN SDG 11 — Sustainable Cities
Failing and empty stock returned to good use, within existing streets and existing infrastructure.
Beyond carbon
A retrofit is not only an emissions exercise.
Warmer homes, lower bills
The most immediate effect of a retrofit is felt by whoever lives there: a house that holds its heat and costs less to run.
Healthier indoor air
Designed ventilation alongside insulation reduces the damp and mould that poorly executed efficiency work can otherwise create.
Local trades employed
Retrofit is labour-intensive and local by nature. The work stays in the area the property is in.
Straight answers
What we don't claim.
We don’t call our homes carbon neutral, and we don’t sell offsets. Retrofit reduces emissions substantially; it does not eliminate them.
Embodied carbon in materials is real, and we work to reduce it rather than pretend it away. Where we are not yet where we want to be, we would rather say so than round the number in our favour.